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Thrifty Thursday: Cut the cable and check out Netflix!

February 25, 2010 by

If you’re looking for a way to cut some expenses, consider dropping cable (which will probably save you between $50 and $100 per month) and picking up Netflix!

For years, I’ve seen and ignored numerous ads for Netflix.  Then, a few weeks ago, my husband saw something about “Netflix Streaming” and it sounded interesting, so I decided to check it out online (I’m always a skeptic and have to read all of the “fine print” before I sign up for things).  Basically, with Netflix Streaming, you can instantly watch TV episodes and movies on your TV via Netflix ready devices like game consoles (currently XBox 360 and Playstation 3, Wii is coming soon) and Blu Ray players.  If you’re Netflix ready device is connected to the internet already, all you have to do is put in their instant streaming disc (they send it to you for free) and you’re ready to go!  You can go online and place different TV shows and movies into your queue and watch whenever you’re ready!

They were offering a two week free trial, so we decided to check it out.  To be honest, my intent was to cancel when the free trial was over, but we have enjoyed it so much that we’ve decided to keep it.  Our service is only $8.99 per month (it’s $2 extra if you want Blu Rays instead of regular DVDs) which includes unlimited instant streaming and one DVD at a time (unlimited “rentals” per month).  Even if you’re not ready to cut your cable yet, if you rent at least two DVDs a month, this plan would pay for itself.  It’s been really great for us because I always have a hard time remembering to return DVDs on time, so even though I usually use a free code or coupon to rent DVDs, I end up paying late fees which is not a bargain!

Here are some more details about the plan if you’re not familiar with it:
*There are no due dates or late fees
*There are no per-movie rental fees
*Membership fees cover your shipping and handling
*You may cancel at any time!

To sweeten the deal, there are several places where you can earn incentives for signing up with Netflix!

*Ebates is currently offering $13 cash back (this will almost pay for two months of the plan!)
*My Points is currently offering 1,000 points for signing up!

If you do decide you’re ready to cut your cable, the March 2010 issue of All You Magazine has some tips for accessing free HDTV channels.  All you need is a digital antenna (check out antennaweb.org).  If your TV is analog, you will also need a converter box.

Do you have another Thrifty Thursday tip to share? Feel free to link up below!

For more Thrifty Thursday ideas, check out Coupon Teacher, Madame Deals, and Life as a Mom.

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Thrifty Thursday: Make your own weekly salad bag!

February 18, 2010 by

Marci posted about making a weekly salad bag on her recipe blog recently and I thought it was a great idea!  For “convenience” purposes, I usually buy the pre-packaged bags of salad at the grocery store.  Not only are they usually way overpriced, but from my experience, they usually start to get wilted or slimy a few days before they even hit the “sell by” date.  So, many times, a lot of the bag ended up going to waste.

I have also been trying to eat healthier and so I had been buying salads at work.  After I read Marci’s blog post, I decided to try making our own weekly salad bag.  I usually just cut up a head of lettuce and then I add in carrots, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, and anything else right before I serve it, and it has worked out so well.  It is a lot less expensive than buying the prepacked bags and you end up with a lot more.  For example, iceberg lettuce and romaine lettuce are on sale for $.88 at Kroger this week, so I can make our own yummy salad bag for a lot less than it would cost to buy a much smaller pre-packaged bag.

I have been making a salad to take to work every day (so we have been going through more than one “weekly salad bag”) and when we have leftover meat (chicken, beef, etc.), I will take it along to throw on top.  It has helped to cut down our expenses (since I’m not buying salads at work), leftover meat is not going to waste, and I have had some really tasty salads!

Do you have another Thrifty Thursday tip to share? Feel free to link up below!

For more Thrifty Thursday ideas, check out Coupon Teacher, Madame Deals, and Life as a Mom.

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Thrifty Thursday: Stocking your spice cabinet on a budget

February 11, 2010 by


When I first started using coupons, I didn’t realize the extent of “stuff” that you can get for free or close to free using coupons. When I started “extreme couponing” I began stockpiling health and beauty items mainly from CVS deals and eventually started stockpiling groceries, too, but it took me awhile to catch on to the “deals” that you can get to stock your spice cabinet, too!

Walgreens and CVS usually have sales on their spices where they are 2/$1 (they are on sale at Walgreens this week!). They have a lot of the “basics” that we use regularly – beef bouillon, chicken bouillon, parsley, paprika, cinnamon, garlic salt, garlic power, onion powder, and pepper. I love to “stock up” during these sales. Plus, they make great fillers!

For those not so common spices, McCormick frequently releases coupons for $.25/1 spice. By itself, that probably seems like it’s hardly worth it. But, my grocery store triples coupons up to a face value of $.39, so once that coupon triples, I’m saving $.75! Sometimes, they have specialty things (seasoning mixes for steaks and chicken) that go 10 for $10 and I’m able to get them super cheap when they do that! This also helps to cut down my out of pocket expenses on other spices when I’m ready to re-stock.

Do you have another Thrifty Thursday tip to share? Feel free to link up below!

For more Thrifty Thursday ideas, check out Coupon Teacher and Life as a Mom.

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Thrifty Thursday: Why the "cash only" system really works

January 21, 2010 by

About a year ago, my husband and I took Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class together. One of the things that this program recommends is a “cash only” envelope system for paying for your everyday expenses. I shared a little bit about our experiences with creating our budget in my Tip of the Day Tuesday post last week.

We budget from the 15th of the month through the 14th of the month, so this weekend, I was getting all of my envelopes ready for our new “month” and I realized that we had $150 combined left in our envelopes from the previous month! This was proof to me, once again, that the cash system really works! The timing was also great because I knew that this month was going to be a very “tight” month for us. We would normally take that $150 and put it toward our debt snowball, but this month, I left it in the envelopes and it was less money for us to have to come up with for this month!

In the Financial Peace University class, Dave Ramsey states that people tend to spend 12-18% more when using “cards” (this includes debit cards). Prior to taking this class, we had been using a “rewards” credit card. We were able to pay off the card each month, and we thought we were “saving” because we getting rewards back. Converting to a “cash only” system was not easy for us, but we decided to try it out and we have been surprised time and time again at how much of a difference it has made.

A few months ago, we decided to go back to trying to use our debit card. After one month of this, we realized the truth in Dave’s statement about people having a tendency to spend more money when they are using a card. When you are using plastic rather than cash, it just doesn’t seem as “real.” Even though we were paying off our card every month, we certainly weren’t making progress toward our debt reduction goals because we had NO money left at the end of the month.

When we are using cash, we have a tendency to re-evaluate the importance of some of our purchases. We also don’t carry all of our cash with us all of the time, so sometimes having to make a trip home gives us time to re-think things. In a way, it has become kind of fun to see how much money we can have left in our envelopes at the end of the month! The thing that I was most surprised by last month was that we had $50 left in our “eating out” envelope. This gave me the confidence to cut our “eating out” budget to $50 for the entire month.

Here’s what worked for us last month:

*Menu planning – Menu planning is a life saver. When I get home from work in the evenings, the last thing I want to do is try to figure out what to make for dinner. By having a “plan” ahead of time (and usually something that is already ready in the crockpot or something that I did prep work on before I left for work that morning), I wasn’t tempted to eat out. (This also helped out a lot with my New Year’s goal to lose weight!) I have cooked dinner for more than three weeks straight now!

*Not carrying all of the cash with us all of the time – When I go out to run errands, I only take the amount of cash that I think I am going to need. For example, when I go grocery shopping, I make a grocery list and I stick to the list. I would have to go home if I wanted/needed more money and sometimes, having to make that extra tip just isn’t worth it.

Have you blogged about your experiences using the envelope system? Do you have another Thrifty Thursday tip to share? Feel free to link up below!

For more Thrifty Thursday ideas, check out Coupon Teacher and Life as a Mom.

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Thrifty Thursday: What I’m willing to pay for things

January 14, 2010 by

I have gotten several requests from people asking what good “stock up” prices are for items I buy. Please keep in mind that I have been doing this for awhile and so I already have a pretty good stockpile of things and can wait for the next time these items go on sale. In other cases, my family goes through some things pretty quickly (my husband loves crackers and granola bars), and I don’t have space to stockpile as much as I’d like of these items, so I have a “stock up” price, but I also have what I’m willing to pay when these items are not at “stock up” prices. I also have grocery stores that will double and triple coupons which helps A LOT!

As you are starting out, you will probably have to invest a little more money at first, but once you get your stockpile going, you should be able to get things at these prices, too!

I hope that you will find this helpful! In most cases, these are for “name brand” items. If I missed an item, please feel free to leave a comment or send me an e-mail and I’ll add it to the list!

After reading comments and e-mails, I wanted to add a few more disclaimers:

*These are not “standard” prices in my area. Items go on sale for these prices every 3-6 months (depending on the item). I stock up at these times and make them last until the next big sale.

*Also, even if your area does not double and triple coupons, don’t be discouraged. I have been able to get many of these items at Target by using store and manufacturer’s coupons (cake mixes, canned vegetables, canned fruits, granola bars, cookies, crackers, pasta sauce, and peanut butter).

BABY CARE:

*Baby shampoo/conditioner ~ free to $1 (we use Johnsons and I try to get this only when there are deals where it is free or close to free)

*Diapers – I try not to pay more than $5-6 for a jumbo pack of diapers and/or Pull-Ups using coupons/RRs/ECBs. But, I usually try to buy them when there is a “deal” so I pay even less. I have a big stockpile of diapers (13 jumbo packs of diapers and 13 packs of Pull Ups currently), so I only buy them when they are at really good prices

*Infant/children’s Tylenol – free to $1-$2 per bottle (I was able to snag two bottles for free at Walgreens a free a few weeks ago, so that is always the idea, but not always possible!)

*Wipes – I stockpile wipes, too. I got such a good deal on Huggies wipes in December of 2007 that they have lasted me until this point. There was a good deal at Target a few months ago where I was able to snag them between .50 and .80 per tub, so I’m stocked up again for awhile!

GROCERY: (I’m not including produce prices because that varies a lot by location and by “season”…I just buy what is on sale and in season typically)

Baking

*Brownie mixes – free to $.20/box

*Cake mixes – free to $.50/box (I have been able to get cake mixes for free several times using coupons and sale prices)

*Chocolate chips – no more than $1 per bag (this is for Nestle brand)

Canned Goods

*Canned fruits – $.50-.75/can

*Canned vegetables – $.25-.40/can

*Chef Boyardee – no more than $.65/can

*Soups – $.70/can for “cooking” soups (cream of chicken, cream of mushroom, etc. because I use the 98% fat free and it’s hard to find “deals” on that…you can get the regular for a lot less) and $.50-.75/can for soups like Progresso or Campbell’s Chunky/Select

Convenience foods (cookies/crackers/chips/granola bars/fruit snacks/etc.)

*Cookies – $.50/package (this is typically for the Keebler line)

*Crackers – $.50-$1 per box (this is for Sunshine, Keebler, or Nabisco)

*Fruit snacks – $.35-.50 per box (this is for Betty Crocker or Kellogg’s)

*Granola bars – $.35-.50 per box for Nature Valley and $.50-$1 per box for Quaker (the Quaker ones are my husband’s favorites and it’s not as easy to find “deals” on them)

*Juice – $.50-.75/bottle (this is for Juicy Juice or Mott’s apple juice)

*Pasta – preferably free, but no more than $.50 per package – Barilla comes out with $.50/1 coupons which double at my grocery store, so when there are 10/$10 sales, I can usually get this for free and I stock up!

*Pasta sauce (jarred or bagged) – no more than $.70/jar (this is for Ragu, Prego, or Barilla)

*Peanut butter – no more than $.75/jar

*Pop Tarts – $.50/box for 8 ct and $1/box for 12 ct

Dairy

*Cheese – $.49-$.99/package (when Kroger has their Mega sales, I can usually get the bags for $.49/each using coupons and the expiration dates are usually several months out, so I stock up and wait for the next sale)

*Cream cheese – $.99/package (this is for Philadelphia)

*Eggs – no more than $.99/dozen (I don’t stockpile these, though I have heard of people freezing them…)

*Sour cream – free to $.99 (when Kroger has their Mega sales, I can usually get Daisy sour cream for free or close to free using coupons and even when there are not Mega sales going on, I can usually get it for a decent price using a coupon that doubles or triples – the Daisy sour cream coupons don’t seem to ever come out in the inserts in my area, so I have to buy them other places and when I stock up, I look for expiration dates that are about 3 months out so I will be set until the next sale…this DOES NOT freeze well!)

*Yogurt – $.25-$.35 per cup (this is for Yoplait)

Meat (There are LOTS of ideas for stockpiling meat on a budget in this post here)

Beef:

Beef roasts – $.99/lb (yes, you can really get it for that cheap on sale – I’ve got several roasts in my freezer right now to prove it)

Beef round steak – $.99/lb

Ground beef – we ONLY use the 93/7 lean beef, so $1.99/lb is a “stock up” price on this for me

Chicken:
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts – $.99-$1.69/lb (it’s hard to find it for $.99/lb these days although it does happen every now and then…so, I consider $1.69 to be my “stock up” price when I’m getting low) – I know that “bone in” chicken or whole chickens are much cheaper but this is much more convenient for me, so I’m willing to pay more

Split chicken breasts (these typically have the bone) – no more than $.99/lb

Pork:
Pork chops (again I buy boneless) – $1.39/lb

Pork spare ribs – $.77/lb

Pork roasts – $.99/lb

Turkey:
Ground turkey – $1.99/lb (again we buy the 93/7)

HEALTH & BEAUTY ITEMS: (if you have a Walgreens or CVS, you should be able to get most of these items for free or close to free)

*Band Aids – free (there are so many coupons and RR/ECB deals for these that you should never pay for them!)

*Body wash – free (whenever a new body wash comes out, it seems like there is a way to get it free with coupons/ECBs/RRs and I stock up – we’re not brand specific at all on this stuff)

*Contact solution – free (in about August, CVS/Walgreens both tend to offer deals on contact solution so you can get it for free after RRs/ECBs. I stock up at this time and I have more than a year’s supply stockpiled right now)

*Deodorant – free (my husband and I each have a specific brand that we use, and I have at least a year’s supply stockpiled for each of us and only get it when I can get it for free or close to free using ECBs or RRs)

*Feminine Hygiene products – free (from my experience, the best time to stock up on these is during the summer months and then during January)

*Over the Counter cold, cough, and flu meds (Theraflu/Triaminic/Tylenol/etc.) – free (for two years now, I’ve managed to get a HUGE stockpile of this stuff for free)

*Pain relievers – free (we’ve got Advil, Excedrin, and Tylenol ~ we use Excedrin the most, but our stockpile of that is dwindling, so I’m hoping for a good deal soon so we can stock up again!)

*Razors – free (my husband uses Gillette razors and I use Schick razors and I can’t remember the last time I’ve spent real money to actually buy either one…the “catch” is that you sometimes have to use a new razor rather than buying refills – the Gillette cartridges seem to go on sale at CVS in December and I stock up them, but sometimes we can’t make it through the whole year on that)

*Shampoo/conditioner/stylers – free (I’m not really “brand specific” when it comes to shampoo although I am currently in love with the Infusium 23 that I got at Walgreens recently – we have at least a year’s supply stockpiled for our family and I only get this when I can get it for free or close to free using ECBs and RRs)

*Shave gel – preferably free but up to .50 (I really don’t like paying for shave gel, but there aren’t really good “deals” on it as often as I’d like, either. So, if we’re getting low, I try not to pay more than .50 per can using coupons or ECBs/RRs and sale prices)

*Toothpaste – free (even if you’re just starting out, if you’re not brand specific, you should be able to easily get a stockpile of toothpaste for free or close to free pretty quickly because it’s on sale almost every week at either Walgreens or CVS)

*Vitamins – this varies, but I typically like to buy them during BOGO free sales when I can use coupons on top of the sale – I was able to stock up for this year at the Nature’s Bounty BOGO free sale at CVS a few week’s ago and got all of our vitamins for free! (with the exception of “kid” vitamins which are much harder to find deals on)

HOUSEHOLD SUPPLIES: (Here’s a tip ~ There aren’t a lot of ECB/RR deals on household cleaners, but there seem to be a lot of BOGO free deals, so I use those to stock up and use two coupons – one for each item – to bring the price down!)

*Bathroom cleaners/toilet cleaners – no more than .75-$1 each (I typically buy Lysol toilet bowl cleaner and Scrubbing Bubbles bathroom cleaners)

*Dish soap (liquid) – free to $.50 (I buy Dawn or Palmolive, whichever is on sale and you can get it fairly often at CVS or Walgreens for these prices when you use coupons and take advantage of ECB/RR deals)

*Dishwasher tabs – free to $.99 (high dollar Electrasol coupons come out fairly regularly where you can get these for free or up to $.99)

*Dryer sheets/fabric softener – free (I can’t remember the last time I’ve had to pay for these…I use either Bounce or Snuggle and have a pretty good stockpile of both that I’ve gotten for free)

*Hand soap – free (I have two grocery stores that triple coupons and I am usually able to get the Softsoap hand soap for free when they go 10/$10 using coupons)

*Kleenex – no more than $.50/box (this is for the actual Kleenex brand)

*Laundry detergent – $1-2 (I usually buy All or Tide – this price is for the liquid, 32 loads)

*Multi-purpose cleaners – no more than $.75/$1 each (I typically buy Fantastik or the Windex Multipurpose)

*Paper towels – .25 per roll (I never pay more than $.25/roll…my grocery store has the Bounty paper towels 10/$10 pretty regularly and they triple coupons so I’m able to use the $.25 coupons to get them for $.25)

*Toilet paper – free to .30 per roll (this was a hard one for me because it’s been so long since I’ve paid for toilet paper, but I know people want to know good “stock up” prices, and so I would say no more than $.30/roll)

For more Thrifty Thursday ideas, check out Coupon Teacher and Life as a Mom.

Feel free to link up with your own Thrifty Thursday ideas below!

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